This invention relates in general to telecommunication equipment and deals more particularly with a cross-connect bus for use on a cross-connect panel.
The cross-connect bus of the present invention is particularly adapted for connection to a cross-connect panel, such as an AT&T 110 type panel, to establish desired circuit paths at the panel. Such a cross-connect panel provides a convenient centralized location for networking the communications and data processing systems within a building and for interconnecting the systems with an outside telecommunications network.
In most modern cross-connect panel systems, patch cords are employed at the panel to establish the various required circuits. A typical patch cord includes a flexible stranded wire cord with a patch plug attached to each end. Each patch plug generally has a housing containing an in-line array of flat contact blades adapted to be simultaneously pressed or plugged into and extracted from an equal number of mating insulation displacement contacts (IDCs) mounted on and projecting from an associated cross-connect panel. Typically, the contact blades within each patch plug housing are connected to individual stranded wire conductors in the patch cord by IDC terminations. Such stranded wire patch cords afford considerable flexibility, for ease of cable buildup during panel board installation, but are relatively expensive to produce, occupy considerable space and often present a generally confused wiring pattern at the panel.
The problems of near end crosstalk associated with the electrical connectors used on a patch cord of the aforedescribed general type is well known in the telecommunications art.
Accordingly, it is the general aim of the present invention to provide a compact low cost cross-connect bus for completing circuits at a cross-connect panel. it is a further aim of the invention to provide a cross-connect bus which compensates for near end crosstalk in signal transmission paths through the bus to satisfy Category 5 performance standards.